


What makes a villain?

by Inky_moro



Series: Anno Uno Scribere [73]
Category: Unus Annus - Fandom
Genre: Anno Uno Scribere, Jan 25, Memento mori, Unus Annus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:02:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28994124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inky_moro/pseuds/Inky_moro
Summary: based on mark's poison ivy rant in 'we turned our bodies into art'
Series: Anno Uno Scribere [73]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016157
Kudos: 2





	What makes a villain?

Why are some powers seen as villainous? Is it just about how the person who wields them acts, or is there something more to it?

I think that it’s got a bit to do with how a powered person acts. I mean, people would probably be terrified of Superman or Captain America or Iron Man or Wonder Woman or -insert list of heroes here- if they didn’t use their powers to save people/the world. So hero publicity, and peoples’ opinion of an arguably heroic person, matters. 

To be recognized as a Hero you have to have acceptable motivations and a moral compass that coincides with society’s ideas about right and wrong, good and evil- otherwise, you’re labeled as a vigilante, or even worse, a villain. Having a flashy power helps with public opinion of you, and so does looking pretty. 

In years past, and probably still sometimes now, being straight or gay also impacted whether you were a hero or villain. Villains were often queer-coded because at one point in time there were laws against portraying gay people in any sort of positive light. (These laws are also why we have the ‘burn your gays’ trope, cause gay people can’t be happy :// no, no- that will make the children gay! Barfs- is there such a thing as homophobe-phobia? If so, I believe I have that) 

How many gay superheroes are there? I think DC’s been pretty okay with their queer hero characters. Marvel needs to catch up- Endgame was the only Marvel film to even briefly mention a gay relationship, via a side/background character that was on screen for less than a minute, and his husband was dead. ;-;   
Marvel, do better, por favor. 

Who was the first hero of color? (google is not helpful on this front ;-;) One of the more well-known characters is Black Panther, but he wasn’t the first. (Google knows that much) It’s probably not a hero that we’ve ever heard of...

I’m not sure if there were a lot of women heroes or villains at first; if anything, women would work their way into the story as damsels in distress or the hero's love interest. When women did/do get to have important roles in hero movies, comics, or other media, they were/are sexualized to an unfortunate and/or uncomfortable degree.

What are the villains’ powers anyway? I can’t think of anything significant- there are a surprising number of villains that are just the hero, but evil.   
Inverse Flash  
The dude from iron man 1  
Whoever hulk fights  
-insert evil supersoldiers here-   
Wasn’t there like an evil superman at some point?

So, people  
If anything about you seems evil or suspicious- be it your power or your past or your appearance- you don’t get to be a hero. Society won’t let you. At least, not at first, but don’t get your hopes up if you don’t want to become a suck up to society.

That is, if you want to be a hero.. (villains do it better, and that’s a fact)

I think we as a society have gotten better over time, at least a little bit. We still have a lot of ways to improve, and I hope it will happen eventually. 

Are there any non-binary superheroes?   
...  
Correction: are there any well-written nonbinary superheroes?

If not, I definitely have a new mission in life. /hj

…

I’m starting to obsess over the idea of a non-binary Harry Potter


End file.
